American Horror Stories: Dust
by diam0ndfri3s
Summary: Spinning off from the hit TV series, "American Horror Story", this mini series follows the life of two young adults caught in the legendary 1930s Dust Bowl. With story lines ranging from satanic rituals to a family of cannibals, this tale of terror provides both shock and horror.
1. Characters

**Characters**

Tiassa Farmiga as Anna Fortner

Evan Peters as Noah Fortner

Sarah Paulson as Beth Marslow

Lily Rabe as Jane Marslow

With Denis O'Hare as Hector "Hec" Marslow

Tommy Lee Jones as Sheriff Jules Garwood

and Jessica Lange as Priscilla Garwood


	2. Chapter 1: The Fortners

**Chapter One - The Fortners**

Anna and Noah Fortner sat down with their mother, Beth Fortner, on the couch. The opened windows in the living room allowed for brief rolls of wind and dirt to come into the house. Metal springs and filthy cotton protruded from the rips in the fabric of the brown couch where the two young adults sat across from their mother.

"Mama, Noah and I need to tell you something," Anna's voice trembled with anxiety.

Mama, who sat on the rusted metal chair facing the two, gave her daughter a curious furrowed eyebrow, "What is it, honey?"

"Well, Mama," Noah started out, his voice low and soft, "Anna is… Um…"

"I'm pregnant, Mama," Anna blurted out, not being able to wait any longer.

Mama's eyebrows raised, "I- Anna, I." She was at a loss for words, "I don't- I don't know what-" At this point in the stuttering of the sentences Mama began to shake.

"Mama, now, Mama, look here," Anna said as she stood up and tried to calm her panicked mother. "Mama. Mama. The baby is Noah's," Anna said rather loudly, stunning her mother in the process.

Mama wasn't sure she had heard her daughter correctly, "Wha-? Noah's?" Now she was sweating and had shortened breath. And then, out of nowhere, as Noah stood up to comfort his mother, Mama began to shake violently. Her body tensed up and her hands clawed into her daughter's skin as she tried to form words, which earned a loud cry of pain from Anna.

"Mama? Mama! Mama!" the two siblings shouted, confused as to what was happening.

"Ahhhh!" Mama screamed at the top of her lungs before she placed her hand on her chest. There was a shooting pain throughout her heart. Her entire body convulsed with agony. The pain finally reached its height just before Mama began to relax. Her eyelids drifted shut. The swelled veins in her neck began to sink back below her skin.

"Mama!" Anna grabbed her mother by the shoulders and started to shake her. "Mama! Mama! Wake up! Noah, what's wrong with her?"

"I- I don't know! Mama!" Noah shouted. Anna placed two fingers on her mother's neck and felt for a pulse. Nothing.

"No. No! No! Mama, no!" Anna felt tears form in her eyes as her hands covered her face while she sank to the floor. She sobbed, still crying out for her mother. Noah sat down and wrapped his arms around her. He kissed her forehead before she burrowed her face in his chest.

oOo

Later that night, Noah suggested they wait until morning to bury Mama's body on the property since it had gotten so dark. Anna agreed, but she couldn't bare to see her mother's lifeless body rotting in the living room when she woke up the next morning, so Noah drug his own mother's body out and onto the front porch.

The next morning, Noah and Anna awoke around the same time. While preparing a conservative breakfast consisting of bread and pig slops, Noah walked out front to prepare Mama's body for burial. Except, when he saw her body, it was hard to recognize her.

A few exposed bones here, a missing appendage there. Her stomach had been torn open; her intestines were strung all about the yard; a few of her limbs were ripped off and chewed to pieces. She had been eaten. During the cold of the morning, Noah Fortner had discovered that his mother had been eaten sometime in the night. But how? No animal could have made this big of a mess. A black blizzard would not have opened her up like this. There was only one logical explanation - the Marslow family farmers. Or better known around town as The Cannibals.


	3. Chapter 2: War Begins

**Chapter Two - War Begins**

After picking up the last of his mother's body parts from the front yard, Noah took the bag of remains to the back yard to be burned. As he was dragging the body bag to the fire pit, he glanced at the setting sun in the distance only to have it quickly blocked by a large dust cloud. The sky became dark and the air became suffocating. Noah dropped the bag into the fire and hurriedly ran back inside the house. He shut the door behind him, listening to the roaring winds roll across the Kansas plains.

"Another storm?" Anna asked when she noticed that Noah had returned inside rather quickly.

"Yeah. I had to throw Mama's body into the fire so I wouldn't be stuck out there during it," Noah's fastened breath became steady again.

"I can't believe they would do this. It's just unbelievable how some stupid family of farmers can just run all over town and eat whoever they want," Anna said, changing the subject.

"I know, Anna. I'll go out after the storm clears and talk to the sheriff, alright?" Noah began walking closer to his sister, reaching his hand for her cheeks, "Maybe it'll help calm you down."

Anna grabbed her brother's hand while he caressed her face, "Alright. Just don't go out too late, I don't want one of them human-eaters tryn'a get you," Anna warned.

oOo

Several hours later, the storm cleared and Anna had fallen asleep on the rugged couch. Noah crept past her, trying to not let the wooden floor squeak as much as it normally did. He unlocked the front door and stepped outside. The sheer darkness of the night was enough to scare anyone who lived outside of this small farm town in Kansas, but Noah was smart enough to bring a lantern and a rather large wooden club with him on his way to the sheriff's place.

While walking down the dirt road, passing all of the closed shops along the way, Noah heard a noise - a noise that an alley cat might make when knocking over a metal trashcan searching for scraps of food.

"Hey! Who's there?" Noah had his club ready to strike a stranger across the face. There was a moment of silence. "I said, who's there?" Noah demanded an answer. No response.

He lowered his club and continued walking. By the time he reached the sheriff's office, the moon was high in the sky.

Noah knocked on the wooden frame of the door, "Sheriff?"

Sheriff Jules Garwood, a man who was in his late 40s, had gray facial hair and was usually always seen drinking, never drunk though.

"Hey, Noah Fortner! Hey. How you doin' boy?" Sheriff Garwood slurred while he stood up and held out his hand for Noah to shake.

"I'm just fine, sir," Noah shook his hand.

"Have a seat, have a seat. What're you needin', son?"

"Well, sir," Noah began, "You know the Marslow family, right?"

"Oh, yes, I do. But I tend not to mess with that satanic clan of a family these days. Causin' way too much trouble 'round these parts, over there eatin' people and shit," Sheriff Garwood carried on.

"Well, sir, my Mama died last night of a heart attack and-" Noah was interrupted.

"Oh, yes, boy. I'm so sorry to hear about your Mama. She was a good gal," Garwood expressed his condolences.

"Yes, she was. But sir, I laid my Mama out for burial last evening and those damned freaks from Hell ate her from limb to limb in the dark of the night," Noah continued.

"Now, Noah. I done told you, I don't mess with the Marslows no more." Garwood repeated.

"But, Sheriff, you can't just-" Noah was interrupted again, this time by Priscilla Garwood, the Sheriff's wife, knocking on the door and entering.

"Jules, that ungodly black woman from across town called again today. She said she just _knows_ how busy-" Priscilla stopped talking when she saw Noah in the room. "Noah? Noah Fortner? Oh, honey, come here!" she walked over to Noah with a big smile and open arms. Noah hugged Priscilla back, missing the feeling of an older women's affection.

"Now, look at you. You've grown so much. I'm so sorry about your mother. Lord knows she was the sweetest thing," Priscilla expressed.

"It's fine, ma'am," Noah said.

"What did you come here for, child? Having any problems?" Priscilla asked.

"Well, I was just telling the Sheriff about how the Marslow family tore apart my Mama last night. I had to gather her body parts this morning and burn her instead of burying her," Noah gave a little more detail in the retelling of the story this time.

"Oh my Lord! Why would they do such a thing? Jules, I told you those inbred cannibals would strike again if given half the chance," Priscilla said in an _I-told-you-so_ tone.

"Honey, I told him, I can't do anything about it. You know what happens when people from town try to interfere with their lifestyle," Sheriff Garwood explained.

Priscilla sighed, turned away from Garwood and back to Noah, "Listen here, baby," she placed a hand on his shoulder, "You needn't worry about that family. My husband and I will get it taken care of, alright? Now, you go on back home, it's getting' late. Tell your sister I said hi."

"Yes, ma'am. Thank you both for your time," Noah said as he turned and walked out.

The moon now gleamed with light yet Noah still had his lantern lit. As he walked down the dirt road, he heard a noise – the same noise from earlier, but with a growling sound this time. He quickly jumped when he heard the clashing metal and had his club at the ready.

Walking to the dark alleyway, Noah saw what he thought was a creature rummaging through trash, but as he got closer, he realized it was a person eating something. A person eating another human. A cannibal eating another human. A member of the Marslow family chowing down on an innocent soul.

Noah cautiously got closer before raising his club and swinging as hard as he could, striking the cannibal right in the face. The creature screamed and fell to the ground. Hearing the breaking of bones and feeling the splatter of blood, Noah hit it repeatedly all across its body, causing it to yelp and growl.

After one last blow to the back of the head, the cannibal finally ceased to viciously continue moving and lie on the ground, occasionally twitching. Noah wiped blood from his face to look down at what he had down. He felt a sense of closure from killing something that had to do with his mother's death.

Noah began walking home, listening to the silent chirping of crickets and frogs along the way.

oOo

Running and panting, Jane Marslow raced across the dry dirt road to the lit up farmhouse in the distance. Upon reaching it, she noticed her sister, Beth.

"Beth! Beth! Where daddy?" Jane asked, out of breath.

Beth looked up from her occupation, "Daddy? I don't know. Look in the barn."

Jane ran from the yard of the farmhouse to the open doors of the barn.

"Daddy! Daddy!" Jane cried out for her father, "Daddy!"

"What? What is it?" A man said from the top of a stack of hay.

"Daddy, it's Wade," Jane began, "I walking down the road and saw him layin' on the floor. It look like someone beat him up… He dead, daddy."

The man leaned in closer to the light, looking at his daughter, "Who did this?"

"I don't know. I think it was that Fortner boy. I saw him walking further down the road with a big bat in his hand," Jane explained.

"Tomorrow, we find that boy. And tear him apart limb from limb, and leave nothing but his bones to dry in the hot sun. No one hurts one of my babies and gets away with it," Hec Marslow announced, declaring war upon the Fortners.


	4. Chapter 3: A Day in History

_Special Guest: Chloë Grace Moretz as Regina Corwell_

**Chapter Three – A Day in History **

The sun began to rise across the dirty, dry horizon. Its warm rays shone through the glass window of Noah and Anna's room. Anna lay on the mattress next to Noah, who was still sound asleep, while she woke up. She looked around the room and yawned before walking over to and opening her drawers and slipping on her nightgown. She figured she wasn't doing much today so she took her time getting ready.

After bathing, Anna stepped out of the washroom with a towel wrapped around her. Walking to her bedroom, she heard a loud knock on the front door. The knocking was so loud and forceful that it awoke a sleeping Noah. He jumped to attention before looking at Anna in the hallway.

"Who is it?" he whispered.

"I don't know. I wasn't expectin' anyone. Will you answer it? I'm in a towel."

With that, Noah got up and shuffled to the door, still in a bit of a daze. He opened the door and saw that it was his cousin, Regina Corwell.

Regina looked up at Noah with the biggest smile, "Noah! How are ya, cous'?" She embraced him with the tightest hug.

"Oh, Regina," Noah said surprisingly, hugging her back, "What are you doin' here?"

"I heard about Auntie Beth. Mmm. I'm so sorry," Regina flipped her blonde wavy hair over her shoulder before grabbing her bag and making her way inside. "I hope you don't mind my showin' up like this. I know it's last minute, but I just did _not_ want to wait on letters going back and forth. So, I just caught a train out to the city and hitch-hiked the rest of the way," Regina let herself in and set her bags on the floor.

"Well, Regina, I appreciate you comin' down and all but I don't-" a now dressed Anna walking into the living room interrupted Noah.

Regina's head turned swiftly and her eyes widened at the sight of her younger cousin, "Anna! How ya doin', sweetie?" Regina embraced yet another family member with a suffocating hug.

"Cousin Reg, what are you doin' here?" Anna asked, highly confused.

"Oh, I just got finished tellin' your brother here about how I came down to make sure y'all were all right, seein' as how your Mama, well, you know," Regina let go of Anna and looked her in the eyes.

"Oh, yes. I understand. Well, thank you," Anna responded.

"Um, how long do you plan on stayin' out here, Reg?" Noah asked.

"Oh, not too long. Maybe a week or two," Regina answered, picking up her bags and heading down the hall to mama's old bedroom.

"Well, just make yourself at home. If you need anything let us know," Anna called out.

oOo

Priscilla sat down at the dinning room table and waited for Jules to come home from work. Looking at her watch, which read 7:46 PM, she heard the front door open.

"Honey, I'm home!" Jules shouted before looking up and noticing his wife at the table, "Oh. Hi, sweetie." He walked over to Priscilla and kissed her forehead before sitting at his seat.

"Honey," Priscilla began, "Honey, before you start eating, I wanna talk to you."

"What is it, hun?"

"I went to the farm to talk to Hector today," Priscilla said hesitantly.

Jules looked Priscilla in the eyes, "You did what?"

"Now, honey, listen. I went to talk to him about the Fortners and whatnot. He told me that Beth said she saw the boy bashing Wade in the head with a bat the other night," Priscilla explained.

Jules' nostrils flared and breathing increased at the sound of these words, "He killed Wade?"

"Yes," Priscilla responded quietly.

"God dammit! I knew I couldn't trust that boy! That fucking unholy boy!" Jules began to shout profanity left and right while Priscilla's thoughts trailed off. She couldn't help but be reminded of a simpler time. A time before the murders; a time before the cannibalism; a time when Hector was still her baby boy.

oOo

"Hector! Come down here and eat honey! Your supper's getting' cold!" A young, 31-year-old Priscilla called out to her son from downstairs. Hector Marslow, only 12-years-old, came running down from the grand staircase in the living room and into the dinning room, which was elegantly decorated featuring marvelous paintings amongst the walls. Hector silently took his seat across the table from his mother and began fiddling with his food.

Taking her seat, Priscilla asked why Hector wasn't eating, "You need'a eat, baby. You're lookin' awfully thin these days. You don't want to end up like your sister, now do you?"

"No, mama. It's just that… Well, I miss Darlene. When is she comin' back?" Hector asked.

Priscilla sighed, "She is not comin' back for a very long time. She was sent away for her behavior, and you know that-"

"But it's not her fault, mama! She doesn't mean to act the way she does! She can't help it!" Hector interrupted, referring to his sister's mental condition.

"Hector Engine Marslow! Do _not_ yell at your mother like that," Priscilla commanded.

"I'm sorry, mama. I didn't mean to," her son apologized.

"Now, eat your food before your daddy gets home. He'll beat you silly."

"Yes, ma'am."

oOo

Later that night, while everyone else in the large house was sound asleep, Hector arose from his bed and crept into the hallway. Walking past his parents' room, he made sure to stay quiet then proceeded to walk down the stairs. When he reached the basement door, he opened it slowly, slightly afraid.

"Darlene?" he whispered, "Darlene, where are you?" Hector knew that his parents had been lying to him about Darlene being sent away to reform school for behavior issues; he knew she was being kept locked away in the basement.

Darlene, Hector's mentally challenged and physically deformed younger sister, limped out from the dark corner of the room and into the one dimly lit area.

"Hey, sis," Hector greeted, grabbing his sister's cheeks and smiling. "I'm sorry mama and daddy are doin' this to you. I'd get you outta here but there's no way I can. Just hang in there, alright?"

Unable to properly form words, Darlene grunted in response. Hector embraced his sister before standing up and searching through the cabinets until he came across a rather large rusted screwdriver. He walked over to his sister and kneeled down next to her, beginning to somewhat cry.

"I love you sis," and with that Hector drove the screwdriver straight through Darlene's heart, earning a loud cry of pain. He quickly removed the tool and forced it back into her, piercing through her upper stomach.

Bleeding and screaming, Darlene fell to the floor and began convulsing. Hearing the disturbances of the night, Priscilla and Jules awoke and rushed to the source of the commotion.

Opening the basement door and seeing the horrific mess, Priscilla instantly began shouting and sobbing, "Oh no! My baby! No!"

"My God," Jules ran over to the dying Darlene and held her in his arms, "Oh my God, oh my God, no!"

"What have you done?" Priscilla shouted, running over to her son and hitting him repeatedly on the head.

"No! My baby girl!" Jules cried out as Darlene's body became limp and lifeless.

Crying, Hector scooted up against the dark wall with his knees up to his chest, listening to the madness going on around him. _What have I done?_ He thought. _What have I done?_


	5. Chapter 4: Evil Lives

**Chapter Four – Evil Lives**

"Well, it seems as though your baby is growing rather quickly, Ms. Fortner," Dr. Walten said after removing his hand from Anna's stomach.

"What does that mean? Is everything alright?" Anna asked, alarmingly sitting up from a comfortable white bed.

"Now, don't worry. Everything should be fine. Sometimes babies grow a little faster than others, it's nothing to fret about," Dr. Walten reassured, "Just make sure you're getting plenty of rest and maintaining a healthy diet."

"I'll make sure she has everything she needs, Doc," Noah said with a smile, standing beside Anna while holding her hand.

oOo

Walking hand-in-hand out of the clinic, Noah and Anna noticed Beth Marslow across the dirt road talking to Priscilla.

"What are they doin' talking to each other?" Anna asked.

"I ain't got no clue. I reckon Priscilla's tellin' her and her man-eatin' family to stay away from us," Noah replied. The two continued walking and shortly arrived at their house just before a dust storm rolled in, clouding the bright sunny sky.

oOo

The day after Hec Marslow murdered his sister, Priscilla and Jules spent much of the morning and some of the afternoon researching in their enormous home library. Reading book after book (including "How to Resurrect a Loved One" and "Satanism, Resurrection, and You") the young Priscilla and Jules concocted a solution to not only bring their daughter back from the dead but also revive her in perfect health - without any mental or physical problems.

Later that night, while Jules was dragging Darlene's swelling body to the center of the grand living room floor, Priscilla began lighting various tall candles around the dimly lighted area. The young Hector cowardly watched from behind the frame of the large wooden door, afraid of and confused as to what was happening. Priscilla grabbed what seemed to be a very old leatherback book with the words _Aeternum Vita_ written on the cover alongside scratchy markings and blood splatter appearing all over it.

Opening a few pages inside, Priscilla began reading an excerpt, "Carissimi, Domino nebra de, vitam referant ad et qui reddet tibi optamus. Fratris et sororis filius primogenitus inter offerendus, damnato nos ad hanc vicissim nobis detit, ceteri aut aeternum manebimus in inferno."

Without any further hesitation, Darlene's body began to shake violently. With lights flickering on and off, doors and windows slamming open and close, wind rushing about in every which way it was hard to keep calm in this situation. Screaming and running upstairs to his room, Hector decided not to attempt to figure out what his parents were doing with his sister.

"Jules! Jules!" Priscilla shouted.

"I'm here, honey! Don't worry!" Jules called back, running over to his wife and holding her.

Then, as if by magic, everything stopped. Nothing in the house moved, not even the Garwoods themselves.

"Did it work?" Priscilla whispered.

"I don't know," Jules said before Darlene's now life-filled body suddenly sat up, gasping for air.

Looking as "normal" as ever, Darlene frantically looked around the room in search of her parents.

"My baby!" Priscilla exclaimed, running over to Darlene, hugging her tightly. "Oh, sweetie. I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry."

oOo

"I hate those Goddamn Fortners!" Hec exclaimed, "They think that just 'cause their Mama died that everybody in this town is gonna feel sorry for 'em. Well, not me," he laughed, "Not me."

"Daddy, why can't you just leave them alone?" Beth said from the kitchen, "I mean, I understand they killed Wade but-"

"But nothin', Goddammit!" Hec shouted, interrupting Beth and causing her to jump. "They killed my boy and they gotta pay for what they done."

Wiping blood from her mouth, Jane barged in through the front door with a large black bag, "Daddy. I got us a big'en!" she said with a smile, holding up the bag.

"Oooh," Hec arose from his chair and admired the dripping bag, "Good job, baby girl! I'm so proud of you!" he praised, petting Jane on her blonde-haired head. "Now if only your sister would be more like you and start huntin' out for her own meat," Hec said, turning and looking at Beth.

Beth scowled, "I told you, I don't like gettin' messy. That's why I don't do it."

"Oh, of course. That's it. I mean, unless you just too much of a little bitch to actually get rough and dirty for once," Jane teased.

"You know what, Jane?" Beth said, getting up from the kitchen table and walking into the living room, "I've had enough outta you. The only reason daddy likes your dumb ass is 'cause you put food on the table for him. If you stopped doin' that, he'd kick you right out of the house."

"That is not true," Jane said, "That's not true, is it daddy?" Jane turned to her father.

Hec sighed, "Listen girls. Both of y'all supply us some needs in this house and I love you both for it. But if you two ain't gonna quit y'all's bitchin' and fightin' all the damn time, I'm gonna kick you out. Got it?" Hec warned.

"But daddy, I do way more around here than ever she does!" Jane defended.

"Oh, eat my shorts you little bitch. I'm the brains of every operation around here," Beth snapped back.

"Stop it, Goddammit! Stop it!" Hec exclaimed, "Now, I can see there's only one way to put this shit to rest," Hec stepped closer to the two women, "Whichever one of you brings me back that Fortner boy alive gets to stay in the house. The other one, I'm throwin' you out on your own. Sound fair?"

Smiling devilishly, Jane and Beth looked at one another before returning their eyes back to their father's and nodding, "Yes, daddy," they said in sync with one another, "That sounds very good."


End file.
